Dice apparatus for practicing bidding and play in contract bridge

ABSTRACT

FOR PRACTICING BIDDING AND PLANNING THE PLAY OF THE HAND IN CONTRACT BRIDGE, A GAME-LIKE APPARATUS COMPRISES TWENTY-SIX DICE. EACH OF THE DICE HAS REPRESENTATIONS OF TWO CARDS OF DIFFERENT SYITS ON SELECTED ONES OF ITS SIX FACES. ONLY ONE HONOR CARD REPRESENTED ON ANY ONE DIE, AND ON EACH DIE HAVING AN HONOR CARD REPRESENTED THEREON THE HONOR CARD IS REPRESENTED ON A MAJORITY OF THE FACES OF SUCH DIE. BY NOT HAVING TWO CARDS OF THE SAME SUIT ON ANY ONE DIE A &#34;PREFECT&#34; HAND OF ALL ONE SUIT IS POSSIBLE, AND BY HAVING THE HONOR CARDS REPRESENTED ON A MAJORITY OF THE DIE FACES, CHANCE FAVOR HANDS WHICH ARE STRONGER THAN AVERAGE, THUS PROVIDING BETTER BIDDING SITUATIONS AND FEWER HANDS &#34;PASSED OUT.&#34; A PAIR OF RACKS PREFERABLY ARE PROVIDED TO HOLD IN ALIGNMENT THE THIRTEEN DICE OF EACH OF TWO PERSONS, ACTING AS PARTNERS, AND SEATED ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF A TABLE.

v @Q Q4 A 2 Feb. 13, 1973 j w. o. PANGBORN 3,716,236 DICE APPARATUS FOR PRACTICING DING AND I PLAY CONTACT BRIDG Fil Sept. 3t 1971 v Q 2 4 4 5 Z W 4 5 4 4 5 4 FM 5 r 4 23m: QPANGBORN F. G. 3 5 5 'ZQ/Mi United States Patent O 3,716,236 DICE APPARATUS FOR PRACTICING BIDDING AND PLAY IN CONTRACT BRIDGE Wayne 0. Pangborn, 1974 Sea View, Del Mar. Calif. 92014 Filed Sept. 30, 1971, Ser. No. 185,217 Int. Cl. A63f 1/00, 9/04 US. Cl. 273138 R 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE the honor card is represented on a majority of the faces of such die. By not having two cards of the same suit on any one die a perfect hand of all one suit is possible,

.and by having the honor cards represented on a majority of the die faces, chance favor hands which are stronger than average, thus providing better bidding situations and fewer hands passed out. A pair of racks preferably are provided to hold in alignment the thirteen dice of each of two persons, acting as partners, and seated on opposite sides of a table.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Contract bridge is a game of constant development with millions of players throughout the world. The game is an intellectual exercise which challenges some of the best minds. The two main factors in the game are (1) bidding and (2) play of the hand. Countless books have been written on each of these features of the game, and some game-like devices have been developed to allow one or more persons to practice one or the other or both of the foregoing features. Examples of such prior developments are to be found in US. Pats. Nos. 2,630,466, 2,312,593 and 3,467,382. Where bridge hands are dealt by chance, as from a deck of cards, or in other manner similar to an ordinary deal of the cards, the hands may run close to average for several deals and thus not present interesting bidding situations of the type in which practice is needed, and where big scores are possible if properly bid.

PURPOSE OF THE INVENTION A primary objective of the present invention is to provide a game-like apparatus which can rapidly furnish each of two persons, acting as partners in a contract bridge game, with better-than-average bridge hands represented on the upturned faces of twenty-six dice, thirteen to each player. The faces of the dice, other than the upturned ones, represent the other twenty-six cards of the deck which would be in the hands of their opponents.

A further objective of the invention is to provide a game-like apparatus by means of which two persons can practice bidding as partners in contract bridge, said apparatus comprising twenty-six dice, each die having thereon representations of two of the fifty-two cards of an ordinary deck of playing cards, no two diiferent cards of the same suit being represented on any one of the dice, no two different honor cards being represented on any one die, and on the dice having honor cards represented thereon, the honor cards on a majority of the die faces. Preferably a dice holding rack is provided for each of two persons using the apparatus, each rack holding thirteen dice with their uppermost faces showing and representing a bridge hand.

3,716,236 Patented Feb. 13, 1973 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The foregoing objectives and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. I is a view in perspective of one of the dice of a set consisting of twenty-six dice and having representations of two playing cards thereon.

FIG. 2 is a view in perspective of a rack for holding thirteen dice representing one bridge hand, the dotted lines representing the locations of the bottom faces of the dice in the holder.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a preferred pairing oif of suits on the twenty-six dice of the set whereon no tlwo cards of the same suit are represented on any one FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 show the six faces of each of three of the dice as they would appear developed on a plane surface; FIGS. 4 and 5 each showing a preferred arrangement for dice with honor cards represented thereon, while FIG. 6 shows a preferred arrangement for non-honor cards when paired with each other.

DETAILED DESCRIPT ION OF THE DRAWINGS Referring to the drawings in detail, a set of twenty-six dice, such as that .10 shown in FIG. 1, comprises the principal feature of a game-like apparatus for practicing bidding and planning the play of the hand for the game of contract bridge. Each of the twenty-six dice has representations of two of the cards of a usual 52 card deck of playing cards thereon, so that the twenty-six dice thus have representations of the entire deck of 52 cards thereon. A rack 11 for holding thirteen dice preferably has a sloping top face 12 and a groove 13 therein of rectangular cross section and of a size and length to hold thirteen of the dice 10 in alignment therein.

In order that representations of the entire thirteen cards of each suit be capable of being displayed face-up simultaneously so as to display a perfect bridge hand, no two different cards of the same suit are represented on any one of the dice.

The honor cards in each suit of a deck of playing cards are the ace, king, queen, jack and ten. It is common practice in playing bridge, in order to evaluate ones hand, to assign an artificial value or honor count to the honor card as follows: four points to each ace, three to each king, two to each queen, and one to each jack. N0 honor count value is assigned to the ten spots. Thus, the total point count for each suit is 10, that for the entire deck is 40, and the average for each of the usual four players is also 10. It usually is necesary, in order to open the bidding, to have a total point count of fourteen in ones hand, shaded or varied for special features of a hand which are unimportant for the present disclosure.

When two persons, alone, wish merely to practice bidding, Without actually playing the cards, it is rather slow and sometimes frustrating and uninteresting to merely deal out two or four bridge hands from a deck of cards, take up two hands and bid these, since, in the event of a run of poor or average cards, neither person can properly open many of the hands thus dealt, or to make interesting bids once they are opened.

The apparatus of the present invention greatly increases the probability of having a good hand, since only one honor card is represented on any one of the dice, the other card represented on each such die being of lesser value, and, further, each honor card preferably is represented on a majority, preferably four, of the faces of the die on which it appears, while the other, lesser card on each such die is represented on a minority, preferably two, of the faces.

The various suits are preferably divided among the twenty-six dice of the present apparatus in a uniform manner, for example, as shown in the diagram of FIG. 3, where the vertical columns represent the four suits, and the horizontal lines indicate the distribution of the various other suits on the thirteen dice of each suit. For example, each X represents the thirteen cards of the suit heading the column in which it is located so that the diagonal row of Xs represent the entire 52 cards of the deck. On the thirteen dice on which the cards of the spade suit are represented are four heart cards, four diamonds and five clubs. Each of the other three lines shows a preferred distribution with the thirteen cards of each of the other suits.

A preferred arrangement of the cards of a deck thereof on the twenty-six dice is shown in the following chart, where s stands for spades, h stands for hearts, d stands for diamonds and stands for clubs:

Whatever specific arrangement of representation is adopted, it is preferred that it be standardized for all of the sets manufactured and sold. Then, in the event that an owner of a set loses one or more dice, for example, numbers 7 and 11 of the preceding list, they can be replaced with standard dice. Also, if it should be desired to change the odds in favor of having better (or worse) hands, substitute dice might be provided with the honor cards on a different number of the faces of the dice upon which they appear.

OPERATION OF THE ILLUSTRATIVE FORM OF THE INVENTION In using the apparatus illustrated and described herein, two players, preferably sitting on opposite sides of a table, not shown, and representing partners in a game of bridge, each take one of the racks 11. The twenty-six dice comprising the set as described previously herein are then cast, or in any event tumbled about so that they are arranged in indiscriminate manner, and each player draws thirteen of the dice toward him and arranges them, face up as cast, in his rack, with their up faces directly angularly toward him, and the dice of each partner concealed by the others rack.

The players are alternately designated as dealer, who initiates the bidding, while the other responds as partner. The bidding continues until a contract is arrived at. The two racks 11, with the dice 10 therein, are then swung around, substantially into line across the table, so that the dice in both racks are visible to both players. The bidding is then discussed, and also, if desired, the various ways in which the hands probably should be played in order to take the greatest possible number of tricks.

For succeeding deals preferably each player re-casts or tumbles about and re-racks his original thirteen dice for a few deals, and then the entire set of 26 dice is again re-cast and the players draw out thirteen dice each as at the beginning of a session.

The invention provides a game-like apparatus by means of which two persons, acting as bridge partners, can, by random casts of a set of 26 dice, consistently receive simulated bridge hands with higher values than average bridge hands for practice in bidding and in planning the play of the hands.

Having disclosed a preferred form of my invention, what I desire to protect by U.S. Letters Patent is the following:

1. A game-like apparatus for practice in bidding and planning the play of the hand in contract bridge comprisa set of twenty-six dice, and

representations of two of the cards of a deck of playing cards on each of the dice of said set, one of such cards being represented on each face of each of said dice, said twenty-six dice together including the representations of the fifty-two cards of a conventional bridge deck.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein none of the dice has representations of two different cards of the same suit thereon.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein each of the dice having an honor card represented thereon has also a lesser nonhonor card represented thereon.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein each of the dice having an honor card represented thereon has the honor card represented on a major number of faces of such die, and has the lesser nonhonor card represented on a minor number of such faces.

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein the representations of the cards of the various suits are distributed substantially in the manner indicated in the chart of FIG. 3.

6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 and including a pair of dice holding racks, one for each of two players, each rack having an elongated straight guide of a size to retain thirteen of the twenty-six dice in alignment with their uppermost faces exposed to a player on one side of a table upon which the rack is mounted and concealed from a player on the other side of such table.

7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 6 wherein each of the racks has a sloping top face and the guide comprises a groove of rectangular cross section in such top face and of a size to receive the thirteen dice in alignment therein.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 614,524 11/1898 Yardley 273146 645,112 3/1900 Mapes 273146 1,460,791 7/1923 Cunningham 273150 1,481,628 1/ 1924 SOuZa 273-146 1,569,701 1/1926 Bostrom 273-150 FOREIGN PATENTS 630,791 11/1961- Canada. 648,549 8/ 1928 France.

ANTON O. OECHSLE, Primary Examiner A. W. KRAMER, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

